Oral Answers to Questions

Steve McCabe Excerpts

Monday 28th November 2016 Commons Chamber

[Sajid Javid]

My hon. Friend makes an important point. We must ensure that the kind of abuse he mentions is stamped out. We work with a number of stakeholders, and we will certainly see how we can do more.

[Steve McCabe (Birmingham, Selly Oak) (Lab)]

6. What steps he is taking to ensure that local authority planning departments have sufficient resources to carry out their enforcement and other duties.

[The Minister for Housing and Planning (Gavin Barwell)]

We have recently consulted on increasing planning fees, and we will be setting out our response in the forthcoming White Paper.

[Steve McCabe]

As the Minister might know, I have been pursuing the issue of protecting family homes. I am not against permitted development, but I am against rogue developers who are able to cause untold misery to ordinary homeowners through ruthless exploitation and breaches of permitted development because they are better resourced than local authorities to deal with enforcement. Will the Minister agree to look again at the issue of enforcement in that area?

[Gavin Barwell]

I share the hon. Gentleman’s concern that local authorities should use their enforcement powers. The Housing and Planning Act 2016 has given local authorities substantial additional powers to tackle rogue landlords through the creation of a database, the use of banning orders, the extension of rent repayment orders and an increase in civil penalties. The powers are there, and I would be happy to meet him to discuss how they should be used.